macrumors regular

My uncle is going to Asia for 3 weeks. He will be travelling to Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong. He has an ATT iphone 5. He wants to get sim cards that work in all 3 countries with DATA.

Where can he get the SIMS? What company? Can he buy in states beforehand? Cost? Simplicity is best.

Also, is there any way to turn his iphone 5 into a hotspot with these sim cards while he is travelling? My aunt wants to use her ipad also.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Does he need voice and data? or date only?

iPhoneTrip offers data only sim cards that you load only the number days you need. They have an unlimited plan for $16.99 a day that works in 11 Asian countries. I have not personally used them, but they seem to have good reviews. (https://www.iphonetrip.com/)

macrumors 6502a

Purchase a nano-SIM cutter unless your uncle is comfortable with cutting SIM cards down to size. He will need to do this with 3 different SIM cards.

When he arrives to each country, just buy a pre-paid GSM SIM card and pop it into the iPhone and activate it. Add more money when necessary.

I used Viettel when I was in Vietnam this year. I had some issues with the Cambodian SIM card, but that may be due to not cutting it correctly with scissors. And if you ever end up in South Korea, they don't sell pre-paid SIM cards to non-residents.

macrumors 6502a

Does your uncle use a lot of data? Is he comfortable with switching the tiny sim and/or cutting sim if needed?

If the answers are all no, please consider going with AT&T's international data roaming which will save everyone a lot of troubles.

800MB - $120.00
300MB - $60.00
120MB - $30.00

To be honest if you aren't going to use a lot of data and you aren't staying at 1 country for long, it's a hassle to buy local SIMs for $15-$25 each.

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I'm very weary about the international data plan. I bought it last January before I went to Vietnam. During my trip, I got a text saying that my data usage was over the limit. I called AT&T and was told that Vietnam was not included in the list of covered countries and I had a $200 bill for 20 MBs of data. They ended up crediting me the overage charge and the international data plan fee. When I went back to Vietnam in May, I did the unlock and local SIM and it was a lot cheaper.

thread startermacrumors regular

I'm very weary about the international data plan. I bought it last January before I went to Vietnam. During my trip, I got a text saying that my data usage was over the limit. I called AT&T and was told that Vietnam was not included in the list of covered countries and I had a $200 bill for 20 MBs of data. They ended up crediting me the overage charge and the international data plan fee. When I went back to Vietnam in May, I did the unlock and local SIM and it was a lot cheaper.

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It says here that Vietnam is one of the countries on the ATT international plan.

I've used the international data plan in Canada before and didn't have a problem. It's fine for someone who doesn't want to mess with unlocking and swapping SIMs, but you will get killed in terms of cost even if you add international roaming, long distance, text and data. Of course you can just put your phone into airplane mode with wi-fi on and depend on hot spots.

I have family and friends in Vietnam so I need to make local phone calls. And data does get eaten up easily. I was using maps for directions even when I was using a taxi just to make sure that they were not taking the "long route". It will depend on what type of user your uncle is and doing a cost analysis. I will be in Vietnam for a week and Thailand for a week next year and will be using local SIMs, then again I use my iPhone a lot for internet. Of course I will have to depend on airport wi-fi when I am in Japan for my layover.

macrumors regular

I have a Iphone 4S and I'm going to Canada.I'm going to call Sprint to unlock my phone.Can I just go to a Rogers or Bell store and get a sim card to put in my phone?How does this work?I just want data only.

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